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Paul Weiss has a longstanding China M&A practice, having first opened its Beijing office in 1981. The team has a particular historic strength in the telecom, IT and media markets, and is well known for high-profile, precedent-setting transactions. This year has been no exception.

This year's headline deal, ten years in the making, saw corporate partner Jeanette Chan able to celebrate the hard-won joint venture agreement between Walt Disney and the Shanghai Shendi for the development of a new Disney theme park in Shanghai. The deal marks one of the largest foreign investment projects in China with the project using its own 'Shanghai Model' for investing in, developing and operating the resort area. Paul Weiss represented the Shanghai Government and Shanghai Shendi from the project's beginning.

Underscoring the strength of the firm's telecom practice, Jeanette Chan also led in serving as regional international counsel to Motorola in the sale of its networks business to Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). In the transaction, NSN agreed to acquire certain wireless network infrastructure assets from Motorola for a cash consideration of $1.2 billion. The deal involved the global transfer of Motorola's networks business to NSN, and required complex structuring in order to complete the transaction. The Motorola deal was also one of a select few of anti-monopoly review cases in China that entered into third phase review.

Paul Weiss consistently punches above its weight in the private equity market in Asia. Though the firm is by no means the largest, it continues to do notable deals. As a partner at a leading firm notes: "They've focused on investing in and developing just a few practice areas, and that has been a really successful strategy for them. For what they do in private equity, they're the best." Lead partners Jack Lange and Jeanette Chan direct the team in advising on high value-added buyout and growth capital transactional work, although the firm also has a presence in venture capital and fund formation. The firm's enviable client list includes The Carlyle Group, KKR, Morgan Stanley, Oaktree Capital, General Atlantic, CDH, Olympus Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch.

Jack Lange and corporate partner Greg Liu worked as lead counsel in advising KKR (in partnership with the CEO and founder of Yageo Corporation) to take the Taiwan-listed electronic manufacturer Yageo Corporation private. They represented the partnership in a tender offer to acquire 100% of the shares in Yageo in connection with a proposed leveraged buyout of the company. The offer, valued at $1.6 billion, would be followed by a take-private merger, and the transaction will be financed by equity from the partners and a secured debt arrangement by UBS and Nomura. The new shareholding structure resulting from the take-private transaction is expected to provide Yageo with more financial flexibility, while the increased KKR investment should allow for growth and expansion. Once completed, it is likely that the transaction will be the biggest private equity buyout in Asia in 2011.

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is one of few firms in the market with a true history of experience in China and China-related M&A. The firm's top-tier private equity practice has led to an impressive number of related M&A deals and given rise to an M&A practice that is impressive in its own right. Paul Weiss has been historically strong in telecom, IT and media deals.

The Paul Weiss team so far spent a decade negotiating for the development of the high-profile Disney joint venture in Shanghai, and this year the deal finally came to fruition. The new joint venture agreement between Walt Disney and the state-owned Shanghai Shendi for the development of a new Disney theme park in Shanghai is unprecedented in terms of foreign investment into the Chinese entertainment market. Shanghai Disney will also operate in a way that is different from Disney's other theme parks across the world, with the joint venture adopting a unique "Shanghai model" for the development.

Paul Weiss is a relatively small private equity shop, but what they do they do very well. The high regard of peers and clients enables this firm to be one of the dominant players in the Hong Kong scene.

Partners Jack Lange and Jeanette Chan guide Paul Weiss's team in advising on mandates with strong value-added components, and the practice boasts a list of top private equity houses including The Carlyle Group, KKR and Morgan Stanley.

Paul Weiss' team seems to have a special acumen in acting for private equity houses in telecom-related deals, although the firm's work spans a large spectrum. One example saw a team including Jack Lange and Greg Liu advise KKR on the take private share acquisition of Yageo for $1.6 billion, in light of a proposed LBO. Once complete the deal will be one of the largest private equity buyouts in Asia in 2011

In 2010, Jeanette Chan led Paul Weiss' team advising the Carlyle group on the sale of 80% of its majority stake in the in Taiwan TV operator kbro. The stake was sold to Wealthy Joy Media Company (which is owned by the high-profile Tsai family) for approximately $2.4 billion. The transaction was initially set to be a sale to Taiwan Mobile, but was then restructured as a cash deal to the Tsai family for regulatory reasons.

A darling of certain clients, the Paul Weiss capital markets offering is well-regarded by peers. "That it has at least NEC Corporation as a major client is a testament to its strength," says a rival. Another one notes that "its lead partners are quite effective". Tong Yu and Kaye Naoko Yoshino helm a relatively lean team, though this includes a deep bench of bilingual associates. However, as clients will often note, it's not the size of a law firm that counts, but its quality.

Yu worked with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi on its $1 billion senior bond offer that closed in February 2011. This deal came after another successful senior notes offer of $2 billion by the senior issuer that was also represented by Yu and his team. In particular, Paul Weiss has developed a reputation among clients for doing complex deals and being at the forefront of creating new structures. Its real estate securities work remains strong, a prime example being Yu and his team representing Kenedix, the largest independent real estate asset manager in Japan, in its $177 million global common stock offering.

With a modest team of two partners, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison is a client favourite for high-end advice on complex M&A work. Kaye Naoko Yoshino and Tong Yu have crafted a respected practice that focuses on quality rather than quantity.

Acting as international counsel to Nidec Corporation, Yu and his team assisted the client in relation to a share exchange with Nidec Servo Corporation in a privatisation. Long-time client Oaktree Capital Management once again turned to the firm when its company, Japan Rental Housing Investments merged with Prospect Reit Investment to create a Reit (real estate investment trust) with ¥183.5 billion ($2.1 billion) in assets.